Eutheria
EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY (yet to do) EOEUTHERIA '''(stem Eutheria, "Cimolesta") PANTOLESTA A few otter-like North American insectivore species, this enigmatic group placed at the stem of the eutherian clade, is one of the last surviving taxa of the first eutherian radiation in the early Paleocene. TAENIODONTA The last survivor of a once prominent primitive eutherian clade, this lone badger-like omnivore species managed to cling on to the present day. LEPTICTIDA This widespread group of small- to medium-sized, mostly bipedal insectivores found all over the northern hemisphere is located at the stem of the eutherian clade. '''XENARTHRA CINGULATA Armored, insecti- or herbivorous South American and Antarctic mammals that come in a variety of sizes and lifestyles, from tiny termite-eating burrowers to huge semiaquatic browsers. PILOSA This small clade native to South America, a wondrous case of convergent evolution, consists of sloths and anteaters, two mostly tree-dwelling taxa that could not be more different. AFROTHERIA MACROSCELIDAE A small group of cute, long beaked insectivores, those tiny little critters can be found in mountainous terrain all over Africa, Southern Europe and the Middle east. AFROSORICIDA Small-sized nocturnal insectivores living in madagascar and southern Africa, tenrecs and otter shrews do not heavily differentiate from their home-earth pendants. TUBULIDENTATA Those relatively large insectivores exhibit a much higher diversity in this world, with at least four genera inhabiting Africa and Europe and evolving into strange forms never seen in our world. PTOLEMAIIDA Three species of medium-sized wolf-like omnivores, this group, on home-earth only known from scarce fossil records, is still alive in the swampy forests of Northern Africa. HYRACOIDEA This fairly widespread clade of primitive herbivores ranging in size from 30 centimetres to almost 2 meters is today, due to competition by more specialised herbivores, less diverse than it once was, but is still found all over Africa and Western Asia. EMBRITHOPODA Though their golden age during the Eocene and Oligocene is over, one last genus of these big and impressive herbivores can still be found near swamps and streams in Northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as slow, majestic browsers. PROBOSCIDEA While they never reached the large size of home-earths elephants, Proboscidea ''exhibit a much higher diversity than in our world, ranging from hippo-like semiaquatic grazers to large trunked tree browsers and living all over Africa, Europe and the Middle East. SIRENIA Due to the absence of global cooling and the ice age, manatees are much more common in this world, with at least four families surviving to the present day, inhabiting coastal seas all around the world. '''EUARCHONTOGLIRES' SCANDENTIA Tiny, arboreal shrew-like insectivores, those primitive Euarchonta ''found in the tropical rainforests of Southern Asia closely resemble home-earths tree shrews DERMOPTERA Three small families with a good dozen species from Eastern Asia, those frugivorous gliders live an enigmatic life in the nocturnal jungles of Southern and Eastern Asia PRIMATES A large clade of intelligent, mostly arboreal, frugi- or omnivorous animals, primates almost completely consist of ''Strepsirhini, lemures and adapids,in this world, while the haplorhinids, the group of "true apes" that gave births to humans on home-earth, is only represented by a few Asian genera. RODENTIA Today, rodents are one of the most widespread mammal clades ever, with more than 1500 species found on every continent except Antarctica. This extremely diverse clade of mostly small, herbi- or omnivorous eutherians has spread into a stunning array of highly different forms and lifestyles in the last 60 million years. LAGOMORPHA A small, but widespread group of small sized, rodent-like herbivores found world wide (except for Australia, South America and Antarctica), mostly in mountainous terrain. LAURASIATHERIA EULIPOTYPHLA Hedgehogs, gymnures, shrews, swamp- and sealshrews, moles, desmans, soilbills and solenodonts, this diverse clade of insecti- and carnivores in every imaginable size and form can be found everywhere except for South America, Australia and Antarctica. CHIROPTERA Even more diverse than on home-earth, micro-, macro- and megabats, the only mammals that achieved true flight, have spread into a wide array of niches, from tiny flower visitors and nightmarish flightless stalkers to majestic diurnal frugivores and long-beaked marine fish hunters. PHOLIDOTA Big, large-scaled insectivores specialised on ants and termites, the conservative, but adaptable pangolins conquered Africa, Europe and Asia with only one successful phenotype. CREODONTA While their numbers have been heavily reduced by the rise of the more adaptable ''Carnivora ''in the Neogene, creodonts still inhabit many important carnivore niches in the Holarctic, Ethiopian and Oriental Realms, making them the second most successful eutherian predators. CARNIVORA Though not as dominant as in our timeline, due to the presence of creodonts, raptorbirds and sparassodonts, carnivores are still the most diverse clade of bigger carnivores, with groups similar to those found on homeearth, like viverrids, anguioccisorids and procyonodontids, as well as ones completely strange in our eyes, such as nimravids, arctocyonids and arbrovenatorids. MESONYCHIA Strange, hooved predators, mesonychids were the first ungulates to evolve carnivory in the early paleogene. Today, while being greatly reduced due to competition by more advanced carnivores, the few surviving genera are still doing well as pack hunters in Central Asia and North America. MERIDIUNGULATA The South American pendant of ungulates, those weird herbivores have exploited a wide range of forms, from lightweight runners to sluggish aquatic grazers, sometimes even overthrowing their northern cousins in terms of strangeness. PERISSODACTYLA Without the rise of grasses in the early Neogene, in this world perissodactyls have not only retained most of the diversity they reached in the eocene and oligocene, but also spread into niches this clade has never explored before. Ranging from tiny undergrowth browsing horses to the gigantic and truly impressive, saropod-like titanotheres, odd-toed ungulates are todays dominant herbivores. CETARTIODACTYLA While the artiodactyls are much less successful (though more diverse, with primitive clades such as anthracotherids, palaeomerycids and dichobunids being still alive) than on home-earth, the cetaceans reached a grade of diversity they never achieved in our world, with archaeocetid, serpentine freshwater predators being present as well as sleek modern odontocetes, thrusting through the open sea gracefully. (back)